Wow, busy for a couple days and come back finding your thread has blown up and also been hijacked to discuss something or other about top docs, Ivy League schools and pre med.
I see that the original intent of my statements did not come across very well on the Internet and have taken on a life of their own. As the OP I would like to clarify some points in regards to my original post. First and foremost I would like to pose the notion that even with sufficient clinical exposure prior to beginning medical school how many pre meds actually TRULY understood what a career in medicine entailed. I understood medicine would not be easy, requiring many years of hard work and dealing with sick and and dying people. But that was also at a time when I quite often performed well above my peers not realizing how many much more intelligent, hardworking and successful people than myself were out there, so maybe I was a little delusioned. The point is, it's very hard to understand the circumstances of your situation until you are living through it. Think back to when you were in middle school and how you thought those kids in high school and college were so much bigger and smarter. Or even as a child how you trusted what adults told you until you grew up and became the wiser. It is the same with making a career choice. Many people start down one path and find a couple years down the line it wasn't for them. But medicine is really a lifelong commitment and to say a 20 year old (or even a 30 year old) even equipped with good information can know for sure where their priorities or interests lie 5, 10, 20 years down the line is a bit absurd.
That being said, I also came across as being some kind of greedy med student that really only cared about money and lifestyle. In which case someone should have questioned me why not Dermatology. I have good board scores. It might be a stretch but I could work hard and try to get a publication or abstract put together. I guess I misspoke when I said nothing interests me. It's more that nothing wowed me. In no rotation did I walk away and say this is great I want to do this everyday for the rest of my life. I do want to be a good doctor, but like any rational young adult in this day and age I also want a well balanced life that can afford me time to enjoy hobbies outside of my career and if and when the time comes to have a family (AND be able to raise them) as well.
I was a little bit insulted by some of the comments that were made that somehow I took away the spot of some worthier person because of my poor motivations. People lets be real here, why do you think some of the most competitive residencies are also considered lifestyle residencies? Why is medicine as a career held up on a pedestal by parents and undergraduate students alike if for the only reason that it was a calling to service others? If that were true and most people who went into medicine were called to serve others purely and humbly then everyone would have gone to nursing school as they truly carry the burden of the serving their patients minute to minute and day to day.
Maybe I did type my original post in frustration and anxiety as one of the posters suggested but I don't think my points were invalid. Many residents, attendings and medical students that I have talked to say that if they had to do it all over again they would have avoided medicine. In retrospect, I believe every career has its difficulties. But medicine is singular in the length, grueling and underpaid training of its professionals. It's also particularly difficult to sit at the dinner table with friends who have gone into pharmacy school or dental school who are finishing their education, getting job offers and complaining about applying for a one year internship because of the "grueling hours".
Now enough with the rambling and back to the original intent of my post. With a bit more introspection I realize that I do really enjoy the thinking aspect of medicine. Being able to tie physiology and the pathological mechanism of disease to a particular diagnosis that makes sense. I also have enjoyed the younger and female patient populations on my ob GYN rotation. I like to pace my own work (radiologist have the ability to do that ) but I did like talking and discussing with teammates on Internal Medicine. I prefer to the point interactions with patients and always found lengthy questioning awkward. However I believe that had much more to do with the fact that most of the time I wanted to tell the patient what we will be doing for them but ending the conversation with "oh I'll talk with resident" because I didn't have an answer. Even though I don't see myself doing surgery, doesn't mean I didn't like quick procedures with definite or quick results. Most of all I want to have set hours with flexibility and the opportunity to have a life out of medicine.
I realize that what I have posted above is really bits and pieces of what I liked from each rotation and I have not been able to decide on one that has a big enough umbrella to cover most. Hopefully I have enlightened my fellow SDNers and I don't come across as the pitiful medical student who made the wrong decision. If any of you can comment on some more ideal speciality choices based on the above I would greatly appreciate it.
I still can't believe you're a non-trad.
